CALGARY.- RBC, the Canadian Art Foundation and the Art Gallery of Calgary would like to invite you to preview the RBC Canadian Painting Competition Exhibition at a reception at the gallery in Calgary on November 8, 2006. The exhibition features artwork from Eastern, Central and Western Canada.

Several recognized artists from Western Canada, whose works form part of the exhibit will be in attendance including Calgary's own painting duo, David Foy and Jennifer Saleik. Also in attendance will be Abbas Akhavan of Vancouver, Holger Kalberg of Vancouver, Melanie Rocan of Winnipeg and honourable mention Matthew Brown of Vancouver who was awarded with $15,000.

Dil Hildebrand of Montreal was named national winner of this year's competition and was awarded $25,000. Adam Brickell of Niagara Falls was also awarded a $15,000 honourable mention.

With a total of $55,000 in prize money, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition has Canada's largest arts award disbursement for painting. Artists and representatives from RBC and the Canadian Art Foundation will be on hand to participate in one-on-one interviews.

The RBC Canadian Painting Competition Exhibition will be on display at the Art Gallery of Calgary from November 1-11. The exhibition is touring prominent galleries across Canada.

Established in 1999, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition is a tribute to Canada's artistic talent. The goal of the competition is to support and nurture Canadian visual artists early in their career by providing them with a forum to display their artistic talent to the country and hopefully open doors to future opportunity. An investment in Canadian culture and the visual arts community, the competition will award one national prize of $25,000 and two honourable mentions will receive $15,000 each. Along with past winners, the winning paintings of 2006 will become part of RBC's Canadian art collection comprised of more than 4,000 works of distinguished art collected over the past hundred years. Various paintings from the RBC collection have been exhibited in museums, enabling more Canadians to enjoy these wonderful works.

Presently, "Irish Point" and "Self Portrait: Who is this Sir Mummings" by Christopher Pratt are currently on loan to the National Gallery of Canada to mark Pratt's 70th birthday in 2005. The Christopher Pratt exhibition is touring to Halifax, St. John's, Winnipeg and Quebec City through the National Gallery of Canada's Travelling Exhibitions Program.